District Newsletter March, 2026

~Mission~

We empower our community of learners in a safe and supportive environment to nurture compassion, cultivate curiosity, and inspire innovation.

~Vision~

The Barrington School District strives to be a community learning and growing together; giving students roots and wings.

Growing Together: Monthly District Updates

Hello Barrington Families;

Spring is in the air however, some continued bumpy weather patterns are still expected. We will take the sun and the warmth when we get it and project positivity and resilience when those remaining chilly days arise. We got this!

I want to thank all of you who came out to vote on March 10th for the Operating Budget, the Paraprofessional Contract, Open Enrollment and for the Facilities Capital Reserve Fund. All of our Warrant Articles passed with the exception of the Operating Budget. The School District recognizes that taxes in Barrington have been rising over the past few years as a result of increases in house values coupled with increases in the Town and School District budgets. Every pocket has its limits. Anticipating that the vote may be challenging this year we were extremely careful to ensure that the Default Budget and Proposed Budget were as close as possible and had a plan in the event that we needed to function under a Default Budget for the 26/27 school year. Please know that we truly understand the financial constraints that we are all under in this challenging economic time and we will continue to provide student programming with policy class sizes alongside the programming and student supports that we are grateful for and extremely proud of.

While you all were at the Polls on March 10th our staff was actively engaged in a Professional Development day. This was an action packed day with many moving parts. All district staff gathered in the cafeteria of BES to begin the day. Light refreshments were available and staff had an opportunity to catch up with colleagues that they do not typically have the opportunity to see throughout the year. I kicked off the day with a State of the Union address reminding everyone of the goals and initiatives that were established and shared during Opening Day. We discussed progress and successes and then refocussed our thinking and energies on the work that is still ahead of us. Following this introduction, the Portrait of a Learner (PoL) committee updated the entire staff on the history and path forward for PoL work and then the assigned facilitators convened with their groups to conduct the rubric review. We will continue our PoL work into next year. Ultimately, this work defines the characteristics that we want all of our students to possess when they leave us for high school. Following the lunch break, a variety of small group work occurred. Facilitators met with vertical math teaming groups while other staff members engaged in policy work, medicaid training, writing rubric development across grade levels, and spent some valuable time with their grade level teams reflecting on Social/Emotional goals that they have set for themselves in order to support students as well as overall grade and building level initiatives. Our staff is working diligently to refine their educational approaches to support all students.

Are you looking for some family fun or do you have a competitive edge yourself? Consider joining the Barrington Community at the 2026 Peeper 5K race on May 2nd at 9am. Not only is this a great time, the proceeds fund scholarships for our post secondary students. Check out the flyer for more information and a huge shout out to Turbocam for being the Gold sponsor for this event! 2026 — The 31st Annual Peeper 5K Walk/Run — Race Roster — Registration, Marketing, Fundraisings

• Snow Days and the School Calendar: Given our 2 snow days the tentative last day of school is now on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. Reminder, the Barrington School District recognizes Juneteenth so there will be no school on Friday, June 19, 2026. Please do not schedule camps and vacations just yet! March and early April weather tends to be unpredictable in New England so we are not quite ready to set the 8th Grade Celebration date or the definitive last day of school. I anticipate bringing a recommendation to the School Board at the April 7, 2026 School Board meeting for both the 8th grade Celebration and the last day of school.

• For future planning, here is the 26-27 Approved School Calendar. Please note the changes at the start of the year as a result of a later than usual Labor Day.

• 4th Grade Families: If you have not submitted your residency documents please do so ASAP.

• The New Hampshire Department of Education (NHED) has recently released a valuable new resource for families—the Diabetes Toolkit. This toolkit was developed to provide schools and families with important information about Type 1 Diabetes, in accordance with RSA 200:40-d. We encourage families to explore this resource under the wellness tab of our district website and through the NHED website, to learn more about supporting students with diabetes in our schools.

• As always, our School Board meetings are open to the public and can be viewed live or recorded through WebEx, accessible via our website. We encourage all community members to stay informed and engaged throughout the year.

Thank you for your support!

Deannah Rae

Superintendent

drae@sau74.org

Emily Sherman

Curriculum Coordinator

esherman@sau74.org

As we welcome the arrival of spring, it’s a wonderful time to reflect on our progress and look ahead to continued growth across our school community. This season always brings a renewed sense of energy, and we are excited to build on the strong connections and supports in place for our students.

Recently, our administrative assistants in each building have distributed the Family Involvement Survey. We kindly ask that you take a few moments to complete it. Your feedback is incredibly valuable and helps guide our efforts to strengthen student engagement, enhance programming, and ensure we are meeting the diverse needs of all learners.

In addition, district meetings have been held with both paraprofessionals and case managers. These collaborative conversations focused on reviewing our current systems, identifying areas of strength, and determining the most effective supports for the upcoming year and beyond. We are grateful for the thoughtful input from our staff and remain committed to continuous improvement in the services we provide.

As always, thank you for your partnership and support. Together, we can continue to create a positive, inclusive, and enriching environment where every student has the opportunity to thrive.

Katie Kukesh

Director of Student Services

kkukesh@sau74.org

Hello Barrington Families.

The New Student Online Registration for the 2026/2027 school year went live on March 1st for Preschool and Kindergarten. Please contact the ECLC to receive the link. For Elementary and Middle school, the link will be posted on the website April 1st. Last year there were a few additions to the form that I would like to highlight below.

In the Parent/Guardian and Emergency Contact Information section there are a few new options. We recommend 5 contacts but if you do not have 5, that's OK, they are not required.

***IMPORTANT***

If your student is already enrolled in the Barrington School District, you will be sent a link via email to verify/review your registration information the second week in August.


• For NEW 2025/2026 (current school year) registration, please contact the school below.





For assistance please contact the school directly:


• Preschool and Kindergarten - 603-664-5586.

• For Elementary school - 603-664-2641

• For Middle school - 603-664-2127

Jeff DeLangie Sr.

Director of Technology

jdelangie@sau74.org

Hello Barrington Families,

Winter, winter, winter, it is just holding on. It will be good for the spring run off and filling the lakes. Salt buckets are slowly being put away. We will be trimming some trees at BES and ECLC to keep up with the over growth, especially where we were running out of room to put snow this year. There will be a few hours at BMS that will not have power over the spring break in April (as long as the schedule stays current). The maintenance and custodial staff are already looking to the spring sports getting the fields lined, and mowing. Custodians will be deep cleaning over the break along with the day to day.

It will be nice to see the flowers and leaves to start to bloom, animals start to move around, and the sun staying higher in the sky longer.

Best,

Joe Williams

Facilities Manager

jwilliams@sau74.org

Who can receive free or reduced price meals?

• All children in households receiving benefits from NH SNAP or NH TANF, are eligible for free meals.
• Foster children that are under the legal responsibility of a foster care agency or court are eligible for free meals.
• Children participating in their school’s Head Start program are eligible for free meals.
• Children who meet the definition of homeless, runaway, or migrant are eligible for free meals.
• Children may receive free or reduced-price meals if your household’s income is within the limits set by the Federal Income Eligibility Guidelines. Your children may qualify for free or reduced-price meals if your household income falls at or below the limits on this chart.

A household may apply for benefits at any time during the school year. Children of parents or guardians who become unemployed or experience a financial hardship mid-year may become eligible for free and reduced-price meals or free milk at any point during the school year. Only one application is required for all children in the household attending schools in the same LEA. Only the last four digits of the Social Security Number of the household’s primary wage earner or another adult household member (or an indication of “none”) is needed when submitting the application. Information submitted on the application may be subject to verification.

The simplest way to apply for Free and Reduced meals is to complete an application in LINQConnect. https://linqconnect.com/main

To access the LINQConnect application form:

Log into your LINQConnect account

Under "Quick Links", select "Meal Applications" (bottom right of the screen)

Type "Barrington" in the search engine to find the Barrington School District (Barrington, NH) online application form

Free and Reduced meals applications are also available at your child's main school office upon request. Please be sure the application you are given has the current school year listed on it. Applications from previous years will not be accepted.

Brigid Connelly

Operations Manager

bconnelly@sau74.org